11 points in this age (3 science, 3 culture, 3 military, 2 economic), and a cumulative total of 22 (not sure why, I only had 10 points in antiquity). This age lasted 80 turns.
Exploration - Turn 0:
Chose Ming as my civilisation (as instructed)
I have my 6 settlements. Commander is in Pataliputra with 1 infantry, 1 cavalry and 2 archers; 6 archers are guarding my towns.
Am hostile to Amina and Trung. Could go for a war with Amina to capture Maste, on the west coast, and I guess Tosali from Trung could be considered as a potential target, but I'm not really looking forward to such wars. Let's focus on fighting and settling in the distant lands.
I'm back to friendly with Himiko, but I'll try to resume this alliance as soon as possible. Will wait and see for Auguste (he's got 8/8 towns already, and seems to be my main opponent production-wise).
Priority is to found a religion (will try to go for city-states giving 2 relics each) and then convert and protect my cities, plus any of my distant land settlements.
Legacy choices: abundance (+2 city limit), wonder legacy, diplomatic point (will let me get 50 % discount on friendship with IP), 2 x economic point (the caravan option only gave me +5 gold, not worth it), golden age libraries (had 2 of each amphitheater and academies) and knowledge collection (using my joker point). I also switched my capital to Aksoum, but realized it has no access to the sea, so my fleet will have to start in Changan.
Cog is in Changan.
Exploration - Turn 10:
Chose plutocratic government for the gold
Started sending my cog to the west, bringing my commander and its army back to Aksoum.
Relation slightly improved with Amina (inamicable instead of hostile). Will try to snag as many IP as possible, not sure which ones I'll favor (probably the ones closest to me, whatever type they may be)
Amina actually destroyed he first civ I was trying to befriend... an ominous start
My cog has reached the first continent to the west, I'm sending my commander as well to grab a goody hut. No trace of any special resources, however.
Exploration - Turn 20:
Founded Hankou on a west island with tea. Didn't find any other civilisation, and must now try to explore further north.
Founded sickounism religion, aiming to convert city-states, then distant lands, then my own cities
Himiko is taking a very strong lead on science... will make for an interesting end game, where I may have to sabotage her and betray her in the end
Diplomacy is where I shine against the AI production output
Exploration - Turn 30
Sent my general with his army across more high seas to the west, discovering a new barbarian tribe and a couple of goody huts
Met Ibn Battuta to the north, he makes a tempting target for an attack to expand my distant land empire, but he's allied with an unknown leader, and knows the last missing one as well
Amina settled Lulami next to my own distant land colony, but she's got no interesting resources, so I'm not in any hurry to capture her town
I skirmished with a couple IP, and 2 of my potential vassals were dispatched by other leaders... I guess I'll take the influence points as consolation
August started a war with Trung Trac, and that pushed him to love level with me. I offered an alliance, joined the war, and Himiko followed suit. I'll harrass Trung a bit, but will settle for a quick peace. Door of nations ensures I have positive war points right away. I don't care to capture any of her cities, and don't have the men or the fleet to capture Tosali anyway
As I suspected, Himiko seems to have started settling distant lands to the east
There is one nice settlement location on the same island as Thuthy Hotewe; Changan is producing a settler while I'm producing my second army commander in Yingtian
Exploration - Turn 40
Reached turn 10 of my war with Trung Trac. Offered peace, and she was willing to throw in one of her 2 towns. I didn't know where it was located, but took a chance on it, and got rewarded with a nicely located Suvarnagiri, south of Vilnius (in that south-east section of the continent I didn't explore in the antiquity age)
Amina settled a second city in the distant lands, this time on that island already occupied by Ibn Battuta. I brought my commander and its army, along with my lone cog, and started saving gold (to be able to rush units or boats, as needed) and bid my time. Once my units were healed, I launched the war, killed another Amina settler wandering in that area, and captured the town in 2 turns. As expected, my allies declared war as well, which should keep everyone busy. I'm sending a lone commander and archer to create havoc near Maste, but won't put much heart into it. My settler still has room for a nice colony on that same island, with 3 exotic resources to grab, but there is also an Auguste settler, so I'm not sure who will make it first. Also have to be careful of the positioning, as it may be complicated to get a building to the sea with the way the resources are spaced
I'm undecided if I'll try to also capture Lulami; with 2 captured colonies and 2 of my own making, I could just convert them all to get my 12 points for Non Sufficit Orbis (I think)
Changan is already spawning specialists, so I'm not too worried for the scientific legacy
Exploration - Turn 50
War with Amina is over; I've conquered my required settlements on the distant lands, am looking at 4 exotic resources (soon to be 5), and have reached naval construction, so I'll start collecting economic points soon. I even went above my city limit since she offered me Maste in the peace discussion.
Met all the other leaders. Will try to be nice to Xerxes, but the poor guy is borderline extinct.
Have started to spawn missionaries - time to get the military and culture legacies out of the way.
Finished building my first fleet, assembling them for now.
Should be done with war for the rest of the age; will further settle in available lands to the southeast if I have more room. For now, I'll focus on upgrading a few units and creating more cities (I'm missing 2 cities, but they've started becoming expensive)
Exploration - Turn 60
Completed the military legacy path, on my way to finishing the cultural one (two more city states to convert and I'm done), started plopping some specialists down in Changan and Yingtian, and am about to complete my second round of exotic resources delivery (I'm the only player with points - 5, and I'll rake in 6 more every 8 turns or so). Age is at 50 %, everything is peaceful, I'm finally catching up to Himiko in science and culture output, so things are looking good. Just need to continue expanding with my 6 cities and developing them as much as possible. Should be able to have a nice railroad network on the main continent in the modern age.
Exploration - Turn 70
Completed scientific path. Missing 1 relic (once I finish converting Birrarung into a city-state) to complete the culture path. We're at 80 % age progression and I'm the only one with any exotic resources points; this bodes well for the next age and our goal of an economic victory.
I may have time to settle one more time before the end of the age: there is a nice spot east of Suvarnagiri that would have access to at least 5 ressources and a full circle to expand 3 rings.
Exploration - Turn 79
Auguste had us jump 5 points when he completed his relic collection, and I took us to 100 % by reaching 23 points for exotic resources. My closest opponent on the economic front had... 0 point.
Exploration - Turn 80
Scored 11 points (3 science / 3 culture / 3 military / 2 economic)
Got access to science, culture and military golden age - will keep the science one
Scores are:
Confucius: 22
Himiko: 11
Auguste: 10
Trung Trac: 5
Xerxès: 2
Ibn Battura: 2
Amina: 1
Catherine: 1
Clearly, none of the secondary continent leader did very good; they are not in the race.
I will keep the same strategy in the next age: diplomacy to snatch city-states, stay allied with Himiko and Auguste and simply outpace them
Limited settling - will produce settlers if I have time, but I can win with my current colonies.
Science: rush for the economic requirements (railway and manufacturing)
Culture: no rush at all, try to quickly get a civic that will let me increase my economic output
For once, it was nice to reach a peaceful state where I didn't feel the need to start wars. None of my allies forced me into unwanted wars either, so that was a nice change of pace from the previous game. If I feel like another civ is at risk of winning with culture or science before my economic empire comes online, I'll have to launch surprise wars. But otherwise, I should be able to remain focused on pure economic development.
